Cranked Marshall tones without cranking a Marshall?

robgilmo

Think Black Crowes tone, can it be done? Ive got a Peavey Deuce which is increadably loud and cant get it loud enough and a Vox Cambridge which isnt it either, is there a small Marshall combo that will get me where I want to be at low volumes? 

musteatbrain

It will always be a compromise if you aren’t moving a speaker with volume, but if budget allows I’d pick a decent marshall with a master volume and something greenbackish as a speaker choice: There’s a lot of options.
there’a probably a modeller that does a decent job, but I have no experience of them.

robgilmo

Would a solid state Marshall get me close? Ive been reading up on tinternet and so far no dice. If I could get my Deuce cranked without shattering windows but even an attenuator might not get it quiet enough and Ive heard they make things mushy at lower volumes anyway. What would a decent Marshall with master volume look like? Budget is limited. A modeller might be a good alternative.

ICBM

Marshall Guv'nor MkI or Drivemaster pedal.

Having heard the guitarist in my band use his through the clean channel of his Orange Rocker 30 at band practices...

They're very similar sounding, the Drivemaster is slightly thicker and sells for less.

robgilmo

ICBM said:

Marshall Guv'nor MkI or Drivemaster pedal.

Having heard the guitarist in my band use his through the clean channel of his Orange Rocker 30 at band practices...

They're very similar sounding, the Drivemaster is slightly thicker and sells for less.

Thats pretty close to what I want, 4.08 on this vid, but he is playing through a huge Marshall amp and has ear defenders on!

robgilmo

Its this kind of barky sound I am after, not smooth like OD , more rough sounding.

musteatbrain

I think they used a lot of fender amps recording that album and the tone is potentially not a marshall

Fishboy7

My Friedman mini dirty Shirley did this kind of thing really well and was super compact. 

p90fool

I had a great sounding 1980 Marshall 2104 here for a few months earlier in this year, I was able to match it side by side with a Drivemaster and an HRD with scary accuracy, except at any volume I chose. 

Drivemasters have a defined but not fatiguing midrange, and a top end which is kind of feathery for want of a better word - you can add plenty of treble even with a bridge single coil without harshness, just like a good Marshall amp. 

I immediately scooped up a couple more Drivemasters on eBay, I suspect the prices will rocket fairly soon. 

GoldenEraGuitars

I didn’t think Rich used Marshall’s?

robgilmo

GoldenEraGuitars said:

I didn’t think Rich used Marshall’s?

He used a variety of amps, most references to them, especially the early stuff including their lead guitarists are off a variety of different amps, Marshalls are in there too. All of them though are cranked up loud.

robgilmo

p90fool said:

I had a great sounding 1980 Marshall 2104 here for a few months earlier in this year, I was able to match it side by side with a Drivemaster and an HRD with scary accuracy, except at any volume I chose. 

Drivemasters have a defined but not fatiguing midrange, and a top end which is kind of feathery for want of a better word - you can add plenty of treble even with a bridge single coil without harshness, just like a good Marshall amp. 

I immediately scooped up a couple more Drivemasters on eBay, I suspect the prices will rocket fairly soon. 

HRD?

photek

I think that’s a Fender tweed amp on the Back Crowes track, Deluxe maybe?

Cranked Marshall at lower volumes solution for me was the Jubilee Mini, it does a lot of vintage Marshall crunch tones along with the more modern sounds. Needs a really well broken in Greenback though, the stock speaker takes months to lose the thin, papery sound it makes when new!

mrkb

Rich used silver jubilees as well as fenders 

photek

mrkb said:

Rich used silver jubilees as well as fenders 

He did but the tone in Sting me has way too much sag and squish to be a Jube

robgilmo

So you guys think its maybe a cranked Fender amp? I have read that he didn't use a lot of FX and most of the sounbd was from playing loud.

GoldenEraGuitars

I get Remedy and Jealous Again tones from a tele, Lonestar and Thorpy peacekeeper tbh. Remedy is a particular favourite of mine to play

simonk

Didn’t Rich have his own signature Reason amp? Reason seems to have disappeared now but there should still be some amps doing the rounds. I quite liked the little Bambino I had.

pintspiller

A number of years ago I bought a Guv'nor. I'd wanted one for years. I thought it was alright. Not quite what I'd expected as it was much the same as my Direct Recording Preamp (DRP-1) which I sold on once I stopped recording demos to cassette tape. It didn't have the switch of the DRP either which added more gain.

The issue with the Guv'nor I think was that I was practising in the shed with a 50w amp with the volume at "1" to be honest.

Anyway, a few years and a couple of house-moves later, I decide to sell on my 80w Valvestate. The amp had bust nearly 20 years previously so was dumped, but when I went to remove the Eminence speaker so I could sell the cabinet via Gumtree I found a Drivemaster that I had bought when they came out but had stopped using in favour of the channel switching on the Valvestate and AOR combos I was using at the time.

I A/B'd the two pedals so I could sell one on, and decided to keep the Guv'nor as I felt it would have a higher resale value later. The pedals sounded virtually the same, but I think I remember favouring the Drivemaster for sound.

In my current band I play bass and had used the Guv'nor for a boost during the run in These Boots Are Made For Walking, Brown Eyed Girl, etc. The footprint of the pedal and its lack of bottom end had meant that I've chosen my Locobox Distortion instead.

p90fool

robgilmo said:

p90fool said:

I had a great sounding 1980 Marshall 2104 here for a few months earlier in this year, I was able to match it side by side with a Drivemaster and an HRD with scary accuracy, except at any volume I chose. 

Drivemasters have a defined but not fatiguing midrange, and a top end which is kind of feathery for want of a better word - you can add plenty of treble even with a bridge single coil without harshness, just like a good Marshall amp. 

I immediately scooped up a couple more Drivemasters on eBay, I suspect the prices will rocket fairly soon. 

HRD?

Sorry, Fender HotRod Deluxe. So basically a common, non Marshall amps set clean.

Emiel

photek said:

mrkb said:

Rich used silver jubilees as well as fenders 

He did but the tone in Sting me has way too much sag and squish to be a Jube

Sting Me is a Fender Tweed (Twin) through a Marshall cab I think. 

Live he went from Silver Jubilees to Matchless to Harry Joyce (Hiwatt-like) to Reason to Vox AC30... generally a bright English style amp with a fast attack set to a slight crunch and then he uses a boost for more drive.

I am Rich in a Crowes tribute band. I try to have a thick all frequency tone, the lead guitarist a more mid focused tone. That seems to work well together.

I will actually be trying my Harvard clone (the smallest tweed with fixed bias) through a cab with Greenbacks next week